As the Race Director of the RENO 5000 Running Series and local coach of running and triathlon teams called EnduranceReno, Endurance Sparks and Endurance Kids (which are developmental camps for young runners and triathletes ages 5-12), I wanted to spend a moment and focus on some of our local running and triathlon talent right here in Northern Nevada! Plenty of athletes that I coach and citizens of Reno, NV, do not realize the fountain of talent that live and train locally. [Read more…]

If you’re an amateur or professional, there’s nothing different about training alone, except for how fast you go! There are however, countless similarities between both levels of athletes that are the same when training alone. Let’s take a look at five key points and why it may be to your benefit to join a professional coached and managed team.

1. Motivation – As a former professional endurance athlete, I know the daily demands it takes to reach your potential in running, cycling and in the sport of triathlon. As you decide that you want to finish your next event faster than your previous, get on the podium or qualify for the next big event, it gets more and more challenging to keep your motivation at the required level to do so.

I work with athletes all the time who have different kinds of goals, from weight loss, to starting out at 15-minute mile pace, to elite athletes. No matter where you are, motivation will be tough to muster up as time goes on.

2. Accountability – Who are you accountable to when you are training alone? Yourself. Some days are better than others, we all know that, but when you fall in to a phase of training where accountability is low, your motivation will certainly be affected for the worse. Speaking from personal experience, I recall when I was training alone at different times of my professional career and how difficult it was to do, versus having a team of athletes or a coach to keep me accountable!

3. Effort Level – How hard should you be training? That’s a good question and most athletes aren’t sure of the answer. They usually push themselves in training, based on how they are feeling that day, with no regard to many other factors that we will discuss in another post, which leads us to point number four.

4. Unknown – You can take all the unknown guess-work out of your daily training by hiring the right coach. Of the athletes and teams that I coach, everyone knows what they should be doing daily so there is NO guessing. Each athlete is trained based on their annual primary goal(s). One of the worst feelings you can have as a new or experienced athlete, is that feeling of the “unknown”. Many professionals who try to “do it alone” end up unsure if their training was adequate for the next event they are registered for!

5. Safety – Even though safety is the most important of these 5 key points, it is often a point that is overlooked. When you are training with EnduWorld you are always in a group. Drivers can see a large group much easier than a solo runner or cyclist out on the open road. If something goes wrong on the road, you always have a teammate to help you.

Training is meant to be fun and so is racing or achieving your personal goals that you have set out for yourself. Even though training alone is enjoyable occasionally, training alone every day can make it more difficult to reach your personal goals. If you want to hire a coach to help you or learn how you can become a part of our team, contact us today.